By the time you read this the world will have changed

Entries tagged with annoying

After the battle of Nap, which finally culminated in nap winning, even if nap won in my lap, the cat decided to climb onto the kitchen counter where he isn't allowed. And if I got up and moved the cat, I'd wake the napping baby. So I left the cat alone, misbehaving (and he knew it, too) and decided nap was more important. Until the cat decided to attack my plant, at which point the idea of cleaning potting soil off the beige chair won. So we tried Nap in the swing instead and it didn't work very well.

*sigh*

And the advice part-

Does anyone know what the appropriate kind of gift to give for a Christening is? We have one on 8/24.

As president of the nanny organization homeowners association, you should be aware of the regulations regarding trash being placed in front of the house which come from both the city and the HOA. And yet, you insist upon placing yard waste in plastic trash bags, and impeding my mail delivery. Fix it.

No love,Me

Dear Neighbor on the other side,

That blue LED sign with your house number is really tacky looking, and annoys my eyes when I'm driving at night. It's even worse because you have the colored lights along your walkway. Really tacky looking.

No Love,Me

Dear Property Tax Appraiser Staff,

We did in fact submit the required documentation for the Homestead Exemption. It's not my fault that your office can't read "I-551" on the passport stamp, or that you can't read the letter that I enclosed with the copies explaining that the plastic card hadn't arrived, but the stamp was given at the interview to use until the card arrived. I'm not pleased with having to drive downtown to bring zedrikcayne's green card to you so that you can see it. I hope that our trip downtown will resolve this issue and I won't have to deal with the Appeals Board, and that you get your act together before next year.

No Love,

Me

Dear Old Guy Working at the Supermarket,

I appreciate that Publix provides carryout service for my groceries, even if I don't take advantage of the service. But it creeps me out that almost all of the guys who are doing the carrying are old enough to be my grandfather.

Love,

Me

Dear Creepy Guy Working at Wendy's,

No, the fact that we're both from New York (as you observed by reading the stickers on my windshield) doesn't mean I want free food or your phone number. Just give me my salad and let me go.

No Love,

Me

Dear Pharmacists and Pharmacy Techs,

The reason we go to this pharmacy hasn't ever been the service, and you continue to exemplify that today. We go to this pharmacy because it's easier to get into and out of the parking lot both coming from home and heading towards home than it is to get into the other 24 hour pharmacy, conveniently across the street from you. And when you keep insisting I have no refills on a prescription that I know there are refills on, it makes me question that decision.

Yes, the doctor wrote the script for 90 days with 3 refills. Yes, my insurance won't cover it that way, so you filled it as 30 days with two refills. That's why I picked up a refill on June 9, and I'm back today for another refill. And, yes, there are refills left, so stop telling me there are none. Just fill the prescription, give it to me and let me go home before it starts raining.

No love,

Me

Dear Cats,

Yes, I planted a big pot of grass to help your digestive systems since you don't go outside and can't get that digestive stimulation that way. Please don't overdo it on the first day and make me clean up piles of puke.

I'm amazed at the cost of text books. I'm taking two business classes this summer, and I paid over $300 for two text books. Text books have always been expensive, but this just seems to be outrageous. Had I not decided so late to take summer classes, I could have probably purchased them for less, but that was not to be this term. Perhaps if I'm taking more classes in the fall it will be possible.

Then again, it also amazes me that a professor needs to include the following in his syllabus:

• Never end your sentence with a preposition like ‘to, from, by, with, between, before, after or during’. (e.g. The company could not have anticipated where the threat came from.)• Always use italics for the name of a source (magazine, book or newspaper title) e.g. Wall St. Journal• Know the difference between ‘there’ (indicating destination like “I’m not going there.”) and ‘their’ (indicating possession like “That is their problem.”)• Always capitalize the first letter of proper names.

If that weren't enough irritation for one day, we may not get the H1B extention approved or the Advance Parole approved in time to reasonably plan to travel this summer. If we don't get it approved, we can still travel within the US, and perhaps we'll do so, but the summer travel plans were rather specific in timing to allow us to attend a wedding in Hamilton, as well as see my family. I realize that the immigration process itself is time consuming, but I'm frustrated that Advanced Parole takes three months or more to approve.

I started the thyroid meds almost two months ago, and started having blood sugar crashing symptoms, like I did when I first started the metformin and made poor food choices, only I wasn't making the same mistakes I'd made when I first started the metformin, I was eating in a way that had been working for me for months. Patient information for Synthroid says that you may need to adjust upwards the dose of blood sugar controlling meds. No big deal, after some back and forth with the doctor's office, he raised the dose. And I felt fine, for about two weeks. Suddenly, this week, I'm incredibly hungry. I'm eating sensibly, even though Cayne's working late, which, in the past has meant I sometimes get lazy about food. But this week, I'm eating the same things I've been eating for weeks, and I'm ending up hungry and headachey two hours after supper. I had a snack of fruit and cheese, which should have been sufficient, and I'm still hungry and headachey. It's not bored-hungry either, it's genuine hungry, which is so incredibly frustrating. I want to go to bed, but if I don't eat something, I'll wake up shaking with low blood sugar.

Four envelopes, each with a separate NOA (Notice of Action) and one from DHS containing the information about going for a biometrics appointment.

So I spoke to the paralegal who handles most of our paperwork for immigration. And in this conversation, the amusing-ish story of how zedrikcayne got arrested because of paperwork snafus. Which led to the realization that when he goes for his biometrics appointment, and they take his fingerprints and run a background check, they'll probably flag his file if this arrest appears. He's not exactly sure where it happened, or what kind of judge he appeared before either.

I'm going to start Monday by calling the clerk of the county where he thinks it happened.

Last night, before I went to bed, I did a little bit of bill paying/banking sorts of things. I'd gotten our new mortgage statement in the mail, and for some reason, I hadn't ever entered the mortgage payment into the bank's electronic payment system, so I wanted to take care of that. It was late, but I took care of some things, and in doing that, I discovered that a check we'd written to the old apartment complex for replacing the carpet (we had a blue area rug that bled onto the carpet, and so it had to be replaced) hadn't ever been cashed. We had a payment agreement with the old place, and made the first payment late last month-zedrikcayne dropped the check off in person. This morning, after a bit more investigating, I give the management office a call. No idea where the check is, but call the company that used to own the apartments, (it was sold officially at the end of October) and see if they know anything about it. Still no luck. Call Cayne. He did drop it off, but he didn't write down the check number. Circles, circles, circles. Phone calls here, phone calls there. Finally, I figure out what the only mising check number is, put a stop on the check (for 31 dollars!!!) and reissue a new check to the apartment complex, this time directly through the bank's website, which may make it easier to track if it fails to get cashed in a timely manner.

A phone call to Mom, because I know that she's had similar issues with my Dad failing to write checks down in the checkbook, to ask what her solution to the problem was. (She didn't really have any suggestions, though she did have some interesting ideas that had worked for them, and Cayne's next checkbook will have carbons-I don't know why this one didn't.)

Then a fruitless phone call trying to track down the $28 the water company that managed billing at our old apartment owes us. All the phone numbers I have for them are to automated billing, so I sent an e-mail. If they still don't respond, I will have to start writing letters.

And then, the really irritating part of my morning. Which has been an ongoing irritation since we got the new phone number here. When you get a new phone number, you have to deal with the dregs of whoever had the number previously. You just do. Most people (including me) also promptly register the phone number with the Do Not Call list. Which I did. Dealing with the holdover from the person who previously had your number might mean a few wrong number calls, or it might mean some collections calls, or whatever. So, apparently, the people who had this number previously (who were not the previous owners of the house) had some outstanding debt. Most of the time, when I've dealt with the calls, they've called once or twice, and stopped when I explained that no, we weren't Margaret or James Hipp, no, we didn't know who they were or where they lived, and that we'd gotten this number early in September. They're polite, considerate, and reasonable. With one exception. And I'm hoping someone who has better resources for dealing with this information or knows how to find information that I'm not finding, may be able to help.

We get frequent, repeated phone calls from a particular number. And I'm going to put the number out there, because well, perhaps someone has some better ideas than I do. Most of the calls from this number are hang ups, though four times, I've actually spoken to a real person. The number that appears on the caller ID, is 716-566-9598. It comes up as "Unknown Name." Calling the number back gets me an automated "this number cannot be dialed" type message. Google tracks the only links back to here, which is largely useless. (If you don't feel like looking at the whole document, the summary is that the information comes back to a link to the Irving Rambler, to the police blotter, and lists it as a "possible telephone scam".) Using whitepages.com tells me that the number belongs to Paetech Communications who tell me that the number isn't even in their database.

Four of the phone calls that appear to come from that number have put me in touch with a live person. I believe one of them claimed to be collecting for Blockbuster Video, which involved threatening me, and telling me that "If I was Margaret Hipp, he'd come after me." Two involved arguing with me about being Margaret Hipp, and why wasn't I interested in their services, and refusing to put me through to a supervisor. One of those involved claiming he was from a company called "National Security." (Ha! You try googling for that one!) And then this morning, I was again threatened, lied to, hassled, called a bitch, and put through to a fake supervisor. This morning, they called and claimed to be from a company called "Paystream" which turns up links like this. Paystream also does business as Banksafe, and I spoke to someone at their office this morning, about the phone calls. I've also filed a complaint with the FTC, but they can't do much, since I have no idea who this company actually is, or where the calls actually come from. I'm frustrated, and angry, and completely not sure where to go next. I may take a ride over the the police station, or give the non-emergency number a call and see if they have any suggestions. The phone company can probably trace the number, but it will cost an arm and a leg to do it, and since I've twice been threatened, it may become worthwhile.

This afternoon...going to try and buy new jeans (though I think if I don't find them at the first store, I'll go tomorrow to the other, since I'm getting a much later start than anticipated), buy some point protectors for my knitting needles, and ribbon for Cayne's sister if they have the one she wants, go to the bookstore (yay coupons) and stop at Office Depot to buy a new chair and a laptop pouch. I think a quick grocery run for the stuff I forgot yesterday and some butter to make cookies for Sunday with, too. And tonight, the guy who will watch the cats while we're gone will come by for dinner, though, he's kind of anti-social. I'll make food, and he'll eat and hang out with the cats.

The XBox died this weekend. Now, for most families, this is upsetting. For us, it's kind of a business necessity. zedrikcayne had an XBox that worked, and and XBox with a bad hard drive. The DVD drive went bad in the XBox that worked, so after much swapping things around we discovered we had two bad XBoxes. This is not crisis-worthy, we'd planned to buy an XBox 360 at some point. Now, it's become a "sooner" instead of "eventually. Feh.

On top of that, Cayne's laptop needs to be replaced soon. It protests when he asks it to run the game he likes (Eve Online) but groans by, and he could make due, except that there's a loose joint inside the computer which is affecting the ability of the computer to run off of ac power, and charge the battery. And his battery life is like 20 minutes. Patch jobs will hold it together for a while, but it's going to have to be replaced at some point.

(The only potentially good part of replacing Cayne's laptop is that my current laptop will run his stuff. Which means that we could consider a dual boot Mac, which would become my computer, and give him this laptop. If I could spend some time using only a Mac and deciding if I liked it, I'd be able to make this decision less reluctantly. I wish I could like, rent or borrow a Mac for a month to play with.)

"I have had this problem start last year with Victoria Secret Bras. I went to a dermatologist and he said that companies use chemicals such as formaldehyde to keep a bra in it's shape. That is then absorbed into the skin and allergy occurs. I don't know if I am the only one and if there is legal action that can be taken. TIA"

Legal action? WTF? That's like taking a peanut butter manufacturer to court because someone dropped a jar of peanut butter, and it broke, and you had an allergic reaction.

And we wonder about the CYA mentality that permeates so much of America...it's because of things like this.